Ways to Share
Many areas have programs for you to donate your quilts to kids in foster care. To find one near you, try a web search focusing on your area.
Many senior citizen centers or community centers have sewing programs. Either do a web search or call your local centers to see if they have sewing programs and if they accept fabric donations.
Some women’s prisons teach sewing to inmates and accept donations of fabric and other supplies. Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Oregon is one example.
Organizations that accept quilts
1. American Hero Quilts was established in 2004 to provide a recognition and an appreciation to our wounded men and women who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
2. Binky Patrol donates knitted, crocheted, and quilted blankets to children in need. They have several chapters throughout the country.
3. Quilts from the Heart is a non-profit public organization that loves to help in need children, teens and adults by providing comforting handmade patchwork quilts.
4. Heartstring Quilts accepts string quilts to donate to various organizations around the country.
5. My Very Own Blanket accepts flannel or yarn blankets and quilts to be handed out to kids in foster care.
I recommend checking an organization’s guidelines before jumping into a project, some have very specific guidelines regarding colors, patterns, and sizes for what they will accept.
(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with nor have I worked with any of these organizations.)
3 Fun quilting projects for a cause:
1. I am part of an amazing group of people from all over the world. As a special gift to a fabulous charity we all support, Steel City AF in Pittsburgh, PA, I asked everyone to pick out a fabric that followed a specific theme and only included the black, yellow, and white.
Through Spoonflower.com, people as far away as Australia were able to find a fabric they like and then I had them all sent to my house where two friends and I worked on this fun project. Spoonflower is a print-on-demand company with thousands and thousands of designs submitted by artists. There is something for everyone. Although their prices are higher than most yardage, if each person is only buying a ½ yard or so, it’s not too bad. For our project, we weren’t sure how many people would want to participate so we asked everyone to buy 1 yard. In the end, more people participated than we anticipated so although we only needed 3 quilts, there was enough to make 5.
It was a wonderful way to involve friends from all over the globe and the quilts will be enjoyed for years to come by the guests of Martin House at Steel City AF.
(The first 3 quilts were sewn by my friend. I helped with the 4th one and made the 5th one.)
2. Make a quilt and donate it to a charity or organization that can then auction it off or similar to the project above, have people provide the fabric so that they cost is spread out and everyone gets to be a part of the project.
3. Another great project would be to make a signature quilt where everyone signs a piece of fabric and then you piece them together to make a heartwarming gift for someone special. (For best results, make sure everyone uses a fabric safe, permanent marker. You would also need to make sure that everyone uses 100% cotton fabric as a quilt made from different fibers blends can shrink at different rates and cause your quilt to be wonky.
